were
entirely written in this manner, and in the temples were immense
stores of these documents, affording information of every event of
interest, however minute, in the history of the people.

The caravan now pushed on rapidly. After traveling, as Roger
calculated, nearly a hundred miles from the sea, the ground began
to rise rapidly, and in a single day the change in temperature was
very marked. Roger felt the sense of listlessness and oppression,
which had weighed upon him while crossing the low country, pass
away as if by magic; and it seemed to him that he was again
breathing the air of Devonshire.

The vegetation had greatly changed. The vanilla, cocoa, and indigo
had disappeared, and trees totally different from those of the
plain met his eye.

Another day's march, and they were four thousand feet above the
sea. Here everything was green and bright, showing that rain
constantly fell. Groves of a tree of rich foliage, which was, the
merchant told him, the liquid amber tree, grew near the road; while
on both sides lofty mountains rose precipitously to a great height,
their summits being clothed in snow. Some of these, he heard, had
in times past burnt with terrible fires, and vast quantities of
melted rock flowed over the country, carrying destruction in its
course. In many cases the road was a mere track winding along the
side of these mountains, with precipices yawning below.

A day's march through the mountains brought them into a lofty
plateau, some seven thousand feet above the sea. Here were
wide-spreading forests of trees, which Roger recognized as large
oaks and cypress. Around the villages were clearings, and whereas
in the plains below maize was chiefly cultivated, the largest
proportion of the fields, here, were devoted to plantations of the
aloe or maguey. Here, even at midday, the temperature was not too
hot to be pleasant; while at night the cold was great, and Roger
was glad to pile the thick quilted rugs over him.

After traversing this plateau for some distance, they came upon
another range of hills, far loftier than those they had before
crossed, and vastly higher than anything Roger had ever before
beheld in his travels. These mountains were, the merchant told him,
the Cordilleras; they extended from unknown regions in the north
through Anahuac to the south. The snow never melted upon the
summits, and several of the highest of these were terrible
volcanoes, whose eruptions were dreaded b